Thursday, September 20, 2012

Ever wonder how basically an entire population of people was able to perpetrate the atrocity of the Concentration camps?

Just take a look around today and watch what the radical Islamists are doing to the rest of the world. People are scared shitless to put any anti-muslim cartoons in a paper. The US President violated the US Constitution 1st Amendment by having some filmmaker arrested. The US Secretary of State stars in an ad in Pakistan apoligizing for this film

Faced with intimidation by those that would rather kill you then be reasonable human beings, the world is bowing in cowardice

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

The November 6 US elections are critical to determine the future path of the US. Will we remain a free people or go down the path of tyranny and destruction?

So who should you vote for? For the moment I'd like you to forget what the candidates positions on individual issues are - most of these are small distractions to hide the real agenda.

Why has the economy stagnated for the past 4 years? Is it because this
was such a bad recession? Could any Presidents have done better? Well 2
had worse economies when they entered office and both had roaring
economies by the end of their first term - Harding/Coolidge and Reagan. I
will share how they did this later.

Why do I say this?

The US was created based on an idea - that we are endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights - life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness (originally property in a first draft of the Declaration). The idea that our rights come from God and Natures god is a unique idea in the history of people. Most States (and I use the word "State" to include any government) believe that it is the State that grants rights to the citizens. This is critical to understand and accept. For if rights do not come from God, then they are granted by the State. And if a State can grant you rights, it can take them away. And the history of mankind shows that it is the tendency of States to try to take away rights and thus take away liberty.

Now most people don't want dictators but have an idea that they will be safer or more secure or that everyone will live "equal" lives with a different type of government. So instead, many dreamers have come up with the idea of creating a Utopian State. A Utopian State is one in which an elite few (who claim to be smarter or better then their fellow citizens) can determine the rules by which the rest of us live. This experiment in Utopianism has gone by many names: collectivism, fascism, communism and socialism. But, all of these ideas boil down to one idea - one small group of people dictates how the majority of people will live. This is tyranny. And all such societies lead to poverty, death and destruction. That is why I stated the consequences of this election could lead to our destruction. I have visited Russia and China and seen close-up how this turns out. Millions die and most people (except for the elite few) live in poverty with no chance to pull themselves out.

One of the essential aspects of being a free people is that we have property rights. That is, when we use our labor to create value for our fellow citizens, the money we earn and the property we acquire is ours to keep. And the more value we create by using our labor helps lift everyone financially. History has shown this to be true. Societies that value free market capitalism have more wealth than those that don't by large margins. Is there disparity within such a society? Yes, but there is also opportunity for those at the bottom to move up and that is one of the great benefits of living in a free society. In a Utopian State everyone is equally poor (except for the elite) and no one has the freedom to succeed and improve the quality of their lives.

Marx wrote "from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs". This redistributionist philosophy entices the lazy to work less knowing they will still get all of the benefits of those working hardest. Meanwhile those that work hard will see that their efforts are for naught and eventually stop working - then everyone starves. The Democrats want the wealthy to "pay their fair share" and "spread the wealth around". It is a dangerous idea when those with less think that through force of government that they can steal the production of others. My wife lived through this in China during the cultural revolution - millions died.

By the way, you may think that its a good idea for the wealthy to pay more and that this philosophy won't effect you because you are middle class, not wealthy. well, you should investigate "government regionalization" efforts - it is a Utopian idea to redistribute wealth from the suburbs into the inner cities. Check out UN Agenda 21.

Now the Democrat party has completed adopted the idea of creating a Utopian State. They continue to push us toward a larger government with unaccountable agencies that dictate all kinds of minutia about how we are to lead our lives - whether it is what kind of toilet we can piss into or what kind of light bulb we can read by.

The Republicans have not been immune to Utopian philosophy either (T. Roosevelt and Hoover come to mind). Maybe about half of the Republicans in Congress believe in real liberty and limited government as defined in the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution - so only 25% of our representatives are saving us from going over the abyss. As far as I can tell, the few Democrats that used to believe in these principles have been run out of office. This is not JFK's Democrat Party.

Barack Obama is the most radical collectivist Statist ever to serve as a US President. His father was a collectivist, he was mentored by Frank Marshall Davis - an avowed communist, and Obama says in his own book that he hung around with Marxists at Columbia. He has vowed that if Congress doesn't accept his agenda he will impose it by fiat using these unaccountable agencies that dictate every aspect of our lives (EPA, HHS, DOE, TSA, etc.) If he is to serve one more term and can appoint one more Supreme Court Justice that also doesn't believe in our Constitution, we are doomed to becoming a Utopian State because a radical Supreme Court will allow government to squelch our freedoms - forget the First and Second Ammendments.

Some people think they should vote for Democrats because they are concerned for the poor or for education or gay rights. Let me address these concerns.

First, why does the Democrat party align itself with Islamists? Islamists are not interested in gay rights or womens rights. No, the common denominator is Democrats and Islamists both believe in Statism - for Islamists this is Sharia Law. Once the Democrats have installed their Utopian State, do not believe for a second that the State cannot take away those "rights". It is foolishness to vote for Democrat Statists if you are concerned about gay rights or womens rights. I believe those rights will be more secure in a free society.

What about education? The Democrat Party stands with Teachers Unions to create a monopoly of state run schools that offer poor education (especially to inner city children). Without competition, inner city kids are doomed to a life of dependence and poverty. Real education reform will come only when this lockhold by the Teachers Unions is broken and competition for students opens up. That will improve education - not more money given to poorly performing teachers.

Finally there is poverty. Many complain that capitalism is unfair because many people are poor while others get rich. They want everyone to have an "equal outcome". This is where minimum wage laws come from and Equal Pay laws originate. Now we don't have a completely free market economy. In fact, we have crony capitalism. This is where the government has become so large and corrupt that our Representatives write laws to benefit some companies at the expense of others. So rich donors to politicians will be rewarded with low interest grants or favors that give them a business edge. Whether it is subsidies to farmers to grow corn for ethanol or build unsustainable solar companies - it is all doomed to failure.

You see, no matter how smart some bureaucrat is, he or she can never know the best solution to a problem It is only the millions of actions by individuals trying to make something better that people want. This "invisible hand of the marketplace" guides their actions. If it is a bad idea, they lose money and go out of business. If its a great idea they get rich. And in getting rich, they enrich everyone by redistributing their wealth through market transactions. It has been erroneously labeled as "greed" but it is self-interest.

In Utopian States people are more equal economically - but that equality comes with a severely low standard of living - everyone (except the elite) is equally poor. The only way out of poverty is free market capitalism where everyone has equal opportunity and property rights. By working in their self-interest they create value for society and society rewards them with money raising their standard of living.

This is what it means to have liberty. Do you want liberty or slavery and poverty?
Warren Harding/Calvin Coolidge faced a Depression in 1920-21 where the
economy contracted by more then 15% - much larger then 2008-09
recession. But they cut government spending by 80% over 2 years and we
ended up with the Roaring 20's - one of the most innovative, fastest
growth economies in our history. Of course, Reagan slashed tax rates
from >70% to 28% and cut government regulation. What all these
leaders realized is that government intervention hurts economic growth.
What we got during the 1930's and now is an increasing regulatory and
tax burden on businesses creating uncertainty. Four more years will make
this period become the second great depression.

I have no illusions that Republicans are perfect and I expect some to continue on the Utopian road at a slower pace. But we do know that Democrats today want Utopianism. So vote them out and next cycle work on voting Utopian Republicans out of office. We need leaders that embrace the ideas of our Declaration of Independence and Constitution.

Monday, March 5, 2012

I've posted here before about why buying a used car is better then a new car. Now Consumer Reports has verified this.

I purchased(on ebay) a 1995 Toyota Camry in 2005 with 102,000 miles on it for $4500. I still own it today. It now has 229,000 miles on it. I've put about $4000 in repairs into it over the last 7 years, but driving 18,000 miles a year is a lot of wear and tear. Whats more I never carried collision insurance on the car - so I saved even more then the article indicates.

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About Me

Hi, I'm Paul, an engineer by training. I've worked for a Fortune 500 company for 30 years in R&D and have several patents. I'm a father of 4 teenagers ranging from 16 to 19 who would like to go to college. I would also like to retire someday but after a divorce separated me from half my net worth, I have little left for either my childrens college tuition or retirement and lots of debt. I have spent a lifetime searching for a way to make money outside of my job and tried businesses and investments that I will discuss here. I currently am starting to re-invest in real estate and hope to document my progress (and hopefully success here).